The annual Day of Discovery on Sunday, Aug. 20, will include two sessions touching on the intersection between the American Civil Rights Movement and Judaism.
Day of Discovery brings new and returning presenters who will offer courses that cover a variety of topics. Registration is open at dayofdiscoverykc.org, and those interested can learn about this year’s sessions and presenters online.
This year’s event is being organized by Jewish Experiences, a Collaboration of Jewish Federation and The J, and the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City.
“Jewish Experiences is very proud to continue carrying the torch of Day of Discovery, working in conjunction with the Rabbinical Association and Annette Fish,” said Ethan Helfand, Director of Jewish Experiences. “Participants have an opportunity to choose from over 25 different sessions, which will be presented by community leaders, rabbis, and experts on a wide range of topics.”
Community educator and attorney Rachel Rubin will offer insight on U.S. history in her session “Exploring Our Jewish Connection to the Civil Rights Movement.” Rubin will share her experience traveling to the American South, where she visited civil rights monuments and memorials.
“There are over 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings from 1877 to 1955,” Rubin said. “During that time, over six million African Americans fled the South as refugees and moved up north because of racial terror lynchings. To me, there’s a connection between six million Black people who had to flee their homes with nothing and the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.”
With this connection in mind, Rubin wants to make an important connection during her session.
“I want to start a conversation with the Jewish community about our values as Jews and our commitment to those values,” she said.
While some presenters will be sharing their insight and knowledge at Day of Discovery for the first time this year, others will be returning with new stories to tell.
Dan Margolies, retired journalist and co-host of Kansas City Symphony on 91.9 FM Classical KC, returns as a presenter, offering a session called “Crusading Sister: The Amazing Story of Esther Brown.”
Esther Brown played a pivotal role in the desegregation efforts both in South Park, Kansas, and nationally, through her involvement with the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954.
“Although Esther Brown is certainly not obscure — she's been the subject of scattered newspaper and magazine articles, is referenced in several books about the Civil Rights Movement, and has a park in Merriam, Kansas, named after her — she has never received the book-length treatment that I am convinced she deserves,” Margolies said. “She could have opted for a life of ease and comfort but instead, at a time when the U.S. was in the grips of the Red Scare and civil rights activism was deemed subversive, this white, Jewish housewife devoted her all-too-brief life to championing the cause of equal rights for all Americans. I hope attendees — at my session or at any of the other sessions — will come away with an enhanced appreciation of Jewish history, culture, traditions and philosophy.”
The deadline to register for this year’s Day of Discovery is Aug. 7, and participants are asked to register early, as some classes have limited space available. Registration fees increase after Aug. 7.
This program is generously funded in part by Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
More information is available at dayofdiscovery.org or by contacting Megan Pener at or (913) 327-8163.
